Flames head of technical panel Mario Marinica has named a 23-member squad for the 2022 Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup scheduled between July 5-July 17 2022 in Durban, South Africa.

Marinica has included uncapped Civil Service United defender Kelvin Kadzinje and Nyasa Big Bullets midfielder Patrick Mwaungulu defender Sankhani Mkandawire has also made it to the final squad after being out of Flames setup for over six year.

The final squad also has foreign-based players including captain John Banda, Peter Banda, Gabadinho Mhango and Khuda Muyaba.

Speaking to members of the press on Friday morning, Marinica  said his technical panel will use the 2022 Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup to build a strong team ahead of the CHAN and Afcon qualifiers.

“We have not had smooth preparations as we never had a full camp because of the Super League games and this has obviously affected our coordination in terms of imparting the fast and very fast football in the boys. However, we accepted the situation knowing that the tournament is not on FIFA window so we have worked with the players according to their availability and so far so good, we are all set for Cosafa.

“We have had chances to assess how our opponents play and we will approach each match as it is so that we get results. We might have different targets with the rest of the teams but we want to use the Cosafa Cup to build a stronger squad that attack more, create goal scoring opportunities as well as denying scoring chances for our opponents,” he said.

Malawi will start the 2022 Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup campaign with a match against Lesotho on July 6 before facing Eswatini two days later. Their last group stage match will be against Mauritius on July 10.

Below is the full squad:

Goalkeepers: Ernest Kakhobwe, Clever Mkungula

Defenders: Stanley Sanudi, Paul Ndhlovu, Blessings Mpokera, Gomezgani Chirwa, Precious Sambani, Kelvin Kadzinje, Dan Chimbalanga, Sankhani Mkandawire

Midfielders: John Banda, Chimwemwe Idana, Peter Banda, Yamikani Chester, Micium Mhone, Chikoti Chirwa, Lloyd Njaliwa, Patrick Maungulu,

Strikers: Ganadinho Mhango, Khuda Muyaba, Stenie Davie, Chikukepo Msowoya, Schumaker Kuwali

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